>> in his physical presence, hard not to kiss him on the mouth. >> i did that on the break. >> protect me. >> i yield the balance of my time. >> regis what did you learn? >> john heilemann isn't bad. maybe imtake him up on that. >> he looks good. >> try this again. how's joy? >> joy is terrific, loves me being home all the time. >> i learned i'm 53%. what time is it? >> it is time for chuck todd. mitt romney defends the caught on camera remarks is there any way to contain the fallout over his calling half the country dependent obama voters in these things have legs, just ask the president. plus with over 50 coalition troops killed by uniformed afghans this year alone, nato has taken the remarkable step. we have suspended joint

operations. we are live in kabul. and are donors being fooled by political phishing scams, how some websites are being used to divert money into their own covers it is tuesday, september 18, 2012 this is the daily run down, i'm chuck todd. 49 dies go my first reads of the morning. rough ten days for mitt romney, the president gets a notable convention bounce a bad jobs report seemed to have no illinompact on the electorate. romney's response to libya and egypt, widely band. infighting in the the romney campaign goes public. now this a newly leaked video obtained by "mother jones" and later nbc news, shows romney at a florida fund-raiser in may. nbc news has learned it was secretly recorded at a $50,000 a plate fund-raiser at the boca raton home of private equity mogul mark later. take a look.

>> the obama campaign immediate pounced. "it is shocking that a candidate for president of the united states would go behind closed doors and declare to a group of wealthy dancers half american people view themselves as victims entitled to handout and are unwilling to take personal responsibility to their lives it is hard to serve as president for all americans when you disdainfully written you have half the nation." the romney campaign put out this innocuous statement from communications director. "mitt romney wants to help all americans struggling in the obama economy. as the gaffe go of nor made clear all year are he is concerned about the growing number of people who are dependent on the federal government, including the record number of people who are on food

stamps, nearly one in six americans in poverty and the 23 million americans who are struggling to find work. pir's plan control 12y5i9s million new jobs in four years, grows the economy and moves americans off of government dependency and into jobs." late night for the east coast, not so on the west coast, so little notice, there wasn't time for any news organization to take the event live. he said he was trying to offer donors his 50% plus one strategy. >> at a fundraiser, you have people saying, governor, how are you doing going to win this? i respond, well, the president has his group, i have my group, i want to keep my team strong and motivated and i want to get those people in the middle. that's something which

fund-raising people who are parting with their moneys are very interested in knowing, can you win or not. that's what this is -- this was address. >> he did stand by his remarks, repeating these facts. >> as i point out, i recognize among those that pay no tax, approximately 47% of americans, i'm not likely to be highly successful with the message of lowering taxes, likeless wise, those reliant on government are not attracted to my message of slimming down the size of government. >> where does the 47% number come from in the tax policy center, which found that 46.4% of households pay no federal income tax in 2011, but most households did pay payroll taxes. of the 18% who paid neither income taxes or payroll taxes, neither than half were elderly and a third of tax credits went to low-income families with

children and the working poor. many of the seniors who benefit from the current tax policy are actually likely romney voters. the republican share of vote among white seniors has increased in each of the last five elections to a whopping 58% in 2008 and we have seen them in the same high numbers in 2012. according to the tax foundation, eight of the top ten states with the lowest income tax liability, check them out, are so-called red states. the only exceptions, florida, a battleground state, and new mexico, a lean, shall we say democratic state, some people think could be a battle ground. a couple things happen to candidates at fund-raisers. candidates play to the room, they shorthand things, say things in ways they would never say in public. we remember when then-candidate obama got caught on mic making this remark in 2008.

>> the president is actually still paying the price for that comment, which republicans are still using against him. >> hey, i'm a catholic deer hunter. i'm happy to be clinging to my guns and my religion. >> and there's some democrats who think we wouldn't even be talking about pennsylvania as potentially in play if it weren't for the bitter remark or that the entire midwest wouldn't be in play you the president or a democratic candidate that didn't make those remarks would be in much better shape in 2012. former president bill clinton got grief after a houston fund-raiser, by the way, 1995, when he said, "probably there are people in this room still mad at me at that budget because you think i raised your taxes too much. it might surprise you to know that i think i raised them too much too." clearly, romney felt corned and

that he couldn't retract his remarks without angering copper is vat it was. we have already seen some of the right applaud the comments. eric erickson tweeted, dammit, i'm just now seeing these secret romney videos. we need that guy on the campaign trail. it comes at a time when romney was trying to quiet angst about his faultering campaign. yesterday in an interview with telemundo's jose diaz balance larity. >> my senior campaign people work extremely well together, i would well them h my campaign is doing well and frankly, these process stories take away from what is concern to the american people. >> so, no changes in your campaign? >> no, i've got a good team. >> the fact of the matter is timingselfing in politics. remember the president made those remarks as a candidate in march and age the timing right now on this is very bad for the romney campaign, because had owe? what made those bitter comments in september, do you think we have won pennsylvania by double digits? this morning, "the new york times'" david brooks has a

brutal a, brutal critique of romney in the "new york times." "personally, i think he is -- he is a kind, decent man who says stupid things because he is pretending to be something he is not, some sort of cartoonish government heart, but it scarcely matters, he is running a depressingly inept presidential campaign. mr. romney, your entitle. reform ideas are essential but wlent incompetence stoop?" that is right, a guy the center right columnist from the "new york times" who yes, still sometimes is favorable to the president but seems to be -- seems to want to at least fall in like with the romney/ryan ticket and comments seem to be turning him off. one final point, canned dats publicly campaign as if they want on to be 65% president, what you do the first time you run for president, reagan in '80, clinton in '92, bush in 2000. they were all making the case that they were going to be that different president, that they were going to get 65% of the

public on their side, even if they never were going to get 65% of the public to vote for them. these comments paint a portrait of a candidate already settled on being a 51% president, given into the polarization, one of the president's key you will haver in ran bills, why are we so divide now when you promise we wouldn't be so div snide romney is simply selling a people lar rised divided climate if he gets elected, too, that's the pessimistic part ofthy think he is going to be paying for for a longer period of time. protests have broken out in indonesia, india and thailand. in lebanon, the leader of

hezbollah made a rare public appearance to rally hundreds of supporters who gathered for a peaceful rally in bay rule back in libya where this all began, the burned out consul slat sealed off and security has been stepped up, amid the investigation into the deaths of ambassador chris stevens and three other americans. but the admin station is having trouble with a key question, why wasn't there more security before last tuesday's attack? the u.s. ambassador, the u.n., susan rice, "meet the press," there was a strong security presence there. >> we had security personnel in benghazi,tragically, two were our security personnel. >> they directly contradict rice saying the two victims she referenced, glen doherty and tyrone woods, were part paof a security detail at the consul l.a. they say ambassador stevens

had one security officer around a local militia. what is more, libyan officials say there were warning signs that the consulate might be targeted, including attacks on a british diplomat and red cross in benghazi. last tuesday's assault, they are saying, was not preplanned. >> it sin explicable and inexcusable that our personnel were not better protected. >> u.s. military testimolls nbc it is suspending joint operations with afghan forces in response to a growing number of insider attacks that killed more than 50 coalition troops so far this year. atia bowie is live in kabul. we are no longer training

afghans to stand up as u.s. and nato troops stand down. what does this mean for the withdrawal? >> that is partly true and partly unruled. i call today for more clarification. they say they are in a high-risk state and they are trying to curb down on the insider attacks when afghan forces turn on their coalition counterparts. they are pointing to the insider attacks but also to this anti-islamic movie. this weekend, six members were killed by an insider attack, the taliban claimed it was because of this movie, four of those service members were americans. according to colonel tom collins here, what they are doing, halting joint operations under

the battalion level but not halted permanently. this is a temporary assessment they have made but if u.s. or nato forces want do joint operations with ofafghans, they still can but have to get approval from the regional commanders. afghanistan is broken up into five regional commands and each command has a one or two-star general in charge of that so these units can ask for permission but the commander can say yes or no to that. they say this is temporary. chuck? >> atia abawi in kabul with the fact it is temporary. we will keep following that and see if that does affect the u.s. timeline. still ahead, more on team romney in damage chrome this morning in wake of the fund-raising video. first, the president's schedule and mitt romney's schedule today. bob...

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so, in the wake of that leaked romney fund-raising video, how account campaign get past all the damaging headlines this morning? joining me now, msnbc contributor, editor of post politics, chris cillizza. they said i had martin and cillizza on, the best marten team since martin and lewis. >> why isn't it cillizza and martin, for pure alphabetical reasons? >> i'm kind of hurt. >> plate roam of jerry lewis, jerry lewis angry about this.

>> i get a lot of jerry lewis comparesons. >> both of you have written rough pieces about the state of -- all right, guys. both of you have written rough pieces about the state of the romney campaign. jonathan, i want to start with us, on-the-record quotes, not just people blindly complaining. did he give you this quote before the video or after the video? >> it was all last week. i mean, these were all conversations that i had last week with folks in the wake of the convention, polling. so it is reflecting that. and before this video even surfaced. but here's the problem with the video, chuck. the worst gaffes reinforce the character about the person. that is the problem with this video. if i voted for, i voted against it, john kerry, for. >> played in the idea he was a

flip-flopper. >> barack obama in early '08. >> elitist. >> no small-town america. here we go. mitt romney, a son of the entitled class of america saying half the country doesn't pay taxes they don't care for themselves, they are effectively wards of the state. that was a problem. an even bigger problem i think was trying to fix it last night. he comes out and he says basically, if you don't get a romney tax cut, you're into the going to be one of my voters. how about those people in america who voted for republicans based on abortion rights, gay rights, national security? a lot of people not affected. >> a favorite talking point among conservatives, hey, look at this. there is a movement among conservatives who say, hey hurricane the tax burden, everybody should pay something. michele bachmann, jim demint. everybody should pay something. but of those 47% he is citing

that jonathan just brought up, i ring 40% of them are romney voters? >> i would agree. >> minimum. >> the problem that you have is this gaffe -- gaffe, misstatement, whatever you want to call it, it doesn't just, to jonathan's point, he is right, doesn't reinforce what people like about romney or think they don't like about romney, it place perfectly into the barack obama messaging which is i'm a president for all of america, i'm a president for the middle class, he is a president for the rich. he is basically writing off 53% of the american public. i'm not gonna do that. i'm going to be a president for everyone. >> i want the vote of every single american period? period? >> of course. you don't have to agree with me on every issue. >> obama the first time. you get this sense with some of these guys that successfully win that first time, the president circumstance they ache to be liked by everybody. at least 65%. >> charlie crist syndrome, want 85% approval all the time.

country. >> i was going to mention that, chuck, there was speculation last night this is the real romney you can the heartless plutocrat. here is the thing. i don't know if this is the real romney. what has marked mitt romney's career in national politics the past since years a seine tency to tell people what they want to hear. more in that way in '08, better this time around, not pandering, worse this time around. here we go again, a crowd of rich donors, he floats this theory, gained currency on the rightso right. is that what he thinks or -- >> you read earlier in the show, brooks saying he was a nice, decent man who does not fundamentally have a core and -- that's the problem. i don't think mitt romney is a bad guy. i just think to jonathan's point, he tends to say what he thinks the audience wants to hear.

>> let move this forward. how do you respond? i brought this point up earlier on "joe," bim clinton and john mccain were having a crisis what did they do they grabbed a bag and held a rally, they just started campaigning to death until people, all of us in the media were forced to cover them campaigning. look at mitt romney's schedule. he has done, going back to last week, jacksonville event in virginia last thurl, ohio, friday, nothing on saturday, nothing on sunday, there was a colorado rally that got postponed, an airplane crash in pa web low, colorado, monday in los angeles, not a swing state, today, utah and texas. tomorrow, back in florida. jonathan martin this is not the schedule, what you would expect of a september candidate running for president. >> it does strike me as light, but to be fair to the romney folks, takes a lot of money to be president of the united states. i think he is spending many of those days raising money, not raising money, he is doing debate prechlt the romney folks believe this campaign increasingly is coming down to these three debates. if he misses one swing state

rally on one saturday but gets in three hole hours of debate prep, in their eyes, that's tradeoff they will take. there is no question, we are now at 49 days out, getting to the point where one rally every other day is not going to cut t he is going to have to do more. >> remarkable contrast to '08, woe do six, seven events in iowa. how can he do this many? that's not -- a primary and a general election are two very different things. >> he has the energy. >> now i think he has got to put himself out there. >> roll up the sleeves and go. see if he does, chris cillizza, jonathan martin, good stuff. up next, reaction to romney fund raising video from obama campaign deputy campaign manager, stephanie cutter. before you click online to give money, you might want to check the fine print. today's trivia question with which president, ready for this, popularized the phrase "okay"?

treat me chuck todd, daily round down, the correct answer will get a follow tuesday from us. in america today we're running out of a vital resource we need to compete on the global stage. what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy.

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mir's campaign is screaming to respond to that video but romney is hardly the first candidate to get in trouble for replarks made behind doors. stephanie cutter is campaign manager for president obama. let me ask you what is the difference -- do you believe have much difference between what candidate obama got caught saying at a fundraiser when it looked like he was sort of defining one part of the republican base and explaining away why these folks would never

be supportive of him and what mitt romney was doing? >> he was talking about how some people get frustrated by their circumstances and react to that. and that we need to bring everybody together and talk to everybody about how we are gonna strengthen middle class security. mitt romney was saying the exact opposite that 47% of the country are never gonna vote for him because they don't take personal responsibility for themselves they consider themselves victims and they are never gonna vote for him. they are not his concern. so a so it's the exact opposite. i think it is troubling that mitt romney went behind close towards to say there is a reason why my policies help people like myself, i don't care about the other 47% that other 47%, half of all seniors don't pay taxes. we are talking about veterans coming home, getting vet traps benefits. it is extremely troubling that

you're running to be the president of the united states and you've written off half the country. so, you know, we will see what the romney campaign says today but last night they doubled down on it. >> let me ask you about one substantive point the conservatives were making. do you think the president believes the country has become the government dependency you full you government entitlements have grown too big, too many people are on government somehow get some ben employment the government? >> that is not what romney was saying -- >> i understand that [ overlapping speakers ] >> the president believes the americans are the hardest working people on this planet. it is not about big government, small government. it's about ensuring that everybody has equal access to opportunity, to live up to their

god-given talents. that's not what mitt romney was saying. mitt romney was saying this people don't take personal responsibility for themselves they consider themselves victims and that these are all the people voting for barack obama so i'm not gonna worry about them. i'm not gonna try convince them to vote for mend not be concerned about them. chuck that comment would be bad enough on its own if it wasn't reflected in other things, including mitt romney's policies. now, remember this is the guy that said i like to fire people. this is the guy that said if you need help going to college, shop around, go borrow money from your parents. this is a guy who said to millions of families on the verge of foreclosure of their homes, we are just going to let the market hit rock bottom. we are not going to worry about you. this is a long line of comments from mitt romney reflective in his policies. this is startling. incredibly damaging but not something that is something to shift people's attitudes about him because, you know, i think that the american people were growing more and more aware of

just how out of touch mitt romney was about what's going on in their daily lives and i think he proved it. >> let me get your reaction to last night, peter hart had a focus group of undecided voters in northern virginia. this was their assessment and their concerns about re-electing the president. i want to play it for you and get your response. >> he walked in overly confident that he could get everything he wanted done done and he found out that you can't change washington. and the last two years with him not being able to get all of his policies passed, what's your contingency plan for four more years? >> historically, the second term, nothing gets done. >> i am in agreement about the bottlenecking that seems to go on. >> and mary, my greatest concern about obama -- >> more of the same? >> all undecided voters, some said they were still leaning toward the president but i have seen this in polls, stephanie, this seems to be the if there is a final hurdle for the president in securing re-election, it is

this idea they are they think we are going to be as polarized for another four years. >> i think the president addressed that in his convention speech, he put out a forward-looking agenda, a road map, where we want to take this country, we can achieve these thing also, big things if we come together. now, in terms of washington, president has spoken about this you and i have spoken about it that the one thing that's blocking progress in washington is the inability for the republican party to give one more dime in taxes from the very wealthy to help fund the things we need to greet economy. >> why do you -- >> that anti-tax pledge that they have taken. >> but these folks seem to blame the president equally. these folks seem to blame the president equally. why do you think that? >> they want to know that, you know, whoever they send to washington can break that gridlock. the president has spoken to this, that this election is all about that all about sending a message to their elected

officials in washington about what we want as a country. do we want to fund education so our kids can compete for the jobs of the future or protect tax cuts for the very rich? do we want a senate republican majority leader who is more concerned about making the president a one-term president than actually helping an economy out of a crisis and making sure middle class families are protected? this election is just about that we can break the gridlong. the american people, 15 days out from the election, send a strong message to washington that enough is enough. >> stephanie cutter, deputy campaign manager for the obama campaign. i got to leave it there, stephanie. thanks for coming on. >> thank you, chuck. we just passed the opening bill, futures are lower following a disappointing report from federal express. get the market run down. mecky quick is here. what do you got for me? >> questions the economy this morning. the big one came because of what we heard from fedex today

federal express wand they would have weak numbers but when it came out it said it was going to have weaker than expected earnings for the current quarter around full year. that has people stopping and pausing, when you look at federal express, tends to be a good proxy forth economy, a huge part of the transports which shows us where people are shipping where businesses are shipping and where they are willing to pay. what we heard from fedex we haven't heard in the past, at this point, people are willing to wait for their parkables to get there, maybe take the two-day delivery instead of the one-day delivery because they don't want to pay that delivery. we talked to an analyst who said this is not what we are hearing from federal .

in our deep dive today, if you are one of the millions donating to campaigns online, you want to double check the fine print before you do that's because thousands of people have been taken in by political websites that look like the real thing but the money doesn't go where you think it will. s here the campaign website for republican house leader eric canter. if you donate on this web site, goes to the canter campaign. here is the website by an organizations called k pac, here is the rub. if you donate to this website,

it goes to the pac, not the candidate. while the name of the organization is clearly visible on the site, you may not know it's not connected to the candidate until you check the fine print. it does read paid for by the coalition of americans for political equality political action committee, not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. canter's pac -- canter is not alone. k pac set up websites for three republicans, including congresswoman michele bachmann, house speaker john boehner whose campaign spokesperson says the website is confusion and sort of a concern. the chairman of k pack, jeff lloyd, says he is not trying to fund raise on behalf of the candidates but the efforts are geared toward online education and turning out the vote for conservatives at the federal level. the money we raised is largely reinvested almost immediately back into our web campaigns. loyd also insists the pac funds donations to anyone that request it is and they are following the letter and intent of the lawyer.

i'm missing the word spirit there according to the investigation by the national journey, nearly 3,000 people have donated to-to-these kinds of sites giving more than half a million goal hearts and that may only be the tip of the iceberg. joining me now the man who worked on this story, shane oldmacer, it was interesting, you got a chance response on the record from the boehner folks, who seem to be concerned that the look of this k pac when site and they develop these individual microsites per candidate was essentially intended if somebody in the state of florida like what is boehner had to say did google search, happened on this site, give him 20 bucks, ended up giving it to the pac and not boehner. >> not just boehner. there are three dozen republican candidates who have the websites. >> does it all sort of use candidates that say spark conservative activism in this case? point at michele bachmann,able west -- >>able southwest on it alan west's campaign among those

concerned about this. >> complaining about it? >> actually filed a complaint with the federal authorities saying can you please look into this, we don't think this is right. the fear is for them that alan west is on tv, he is on cable program, people are going to google his name, think he is doing great things for conservative, land on this website and give to this site than him. they would rather have the donations. >> what is the law here that regulates this? >> the main thing is that this is an organization that discloses itself on the web site. the slaw this is now, recently super pac, you hear a lot about those. the super pac, work independently of the canada, on their behalf, saying, look, we are buying these google ads for candidates. that is the engine of the entire operation, buying google ads brings more visitors, brings more campaign contributions brings more google ads which brings more visitors. >> all they are doing trying to raise money to raise money? that's what it sounds like you just described? >> may be doing other things as well. about half the money, at least

through june are you the last report came out, went to google ads. the other half went to two companies that were rebel zblirsd delaware, almost no paper trail, no other federal candidate or cause in the country has hired these two companies since they came into existence. one of them they created a website ten days after they got $178,000 from this group. >> soable west has filed a complain with the ftc. what do they want the fec to do about this? >> order a cease and desist saying you're basically playing off our name to benefit yourself it is not clear what the fec will do as a federal organization. it is often mired in gridlock but like them to stop, of course, those wheels don't turn so quickly. i would presume this is going to be up a while. >> seems this is something where the fec's regulation happens caught up to technology. is that what we are looking at here? >> may well be the case. with the internet, just so many possibilities. again, this is just on the republican side, just one group.

a possibility that other things are going to -- a fund-raising phishing scam or not ready to call it a scam? >> certainly what some donors said. i have yet to speak with a donor who gave to this group and know they gave to this group. >> not one donor you have talked to? how many have you talked to? >> a couple dozen at this point. >> not one of them -- they all thought they were giving to the candidate that was pictured on this microsite? >> a couple thought they were giving to the group not the candidate but -- >> associated with the group. >> yeah. and this ranged from political professionals, people speechwriter in the bush white house, professional lobbyists who cut checks for a live having made this mistake f those people are making it, makes you wonder what regular folks googling people's names come up with. >> shane gold macer, a good investigation from national journal. shane, thanks for coming on. tale of the tape, how douse the romney campaign get back on message after a rough couple of weeks. first, white house soup of the day? more fitting, it feels like fall, it looks like fall so it should be a butter nut squash

soup, a perfect fall northern virginian soup. don't forget, always follow the show on facebook. by the way, i got criticized yesterday saying i was too tough on the white house chef. you are watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. does anybody get jokes anymore? does anybody get a gag? i've worked hard to build my family. and also to build my career. so i'm not about to always let my frequent bladder urges, or the worry my pipes might leak get in the way

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we hired three thousand people just last year. bp invests more in america than in any other country. in fact, over the last five years, no other energy company has invested more in the us than bp. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. today, our commitment to the gulf, and to america, has never been stronger. pretty safe to say the last 36 hours have not gone well for mitt romney, a bruising story about campaign infighting and secretly recorded videos from a campaign fund riser. let bring in the panel, maryland state campaign chair, former governor bob ehrlich is here, nia-malika henderson and jamal simmons. governor, i'm going to start with you, i guess you're being forced to speak for the romney campaign here. >> if you're not paying taxes,

why would you be interested in tax cuts? >> let me start with. >> can rhetorical question. >> bill crystal writing this morning under the headline, a note on romney's arrogant and stupid remarks, he adds this, romney seems to have contempt not just for the democrats that oppose him but the tens of millions who intend to vote for him that seems to be, governor, where the criticism is coming in for. the 47% figure, while technically accurate on the income tax, mischaracterizes who those people are. >> to a bunch of business people about tax cuts because these people care about tax cuts. >> pandering to the crowd? >> same way with the president last year, get into this whole thing. >> i understand that you have spoken at fund-raisers. >> many fund-raisers. >> how often do you speak to them in what they want to hear -- >> last time i was here, we had this discussion, when you're human, you make comments. when you're off the record, at a private event. you are less careful than when you are at a public event.

he said last night in the press conference, inarticulate. that's what happens. again, it is part of this whole side show we had this discussion last time, i was asked to beat up on vice president biden for comments about the change or whatever. it is not important the context of what really matters people. >> when these things are damaging is when they feed a narrative already put into place, i was before it i was against it johner can right flip-flopper the bush campaign was feeding. boom, fresh evidence. >> they can build that. >> a caricature the democrats have been trying to build about mitt romney, he doesn't care about the poor, a rich guy who ships johns overseas, he fed into that very much so when he said he is not very concerned about the poor and you see it in the polls that people do give a barack obama an edge in terms of

who cares about the middle class and people like them. he talks about the wait, people bringing their food, he says i'm here to help waiters who are helping us today. >> where was this in that? >> i don't know. which mitt? was he pandering, saying what he believes in. i don't think people know. that is a problem. there is a likability gap. >> anticipate that theswer that. david brooks said he doesn't think this is mitt romney but taking on the -- >> i hate the sideshow. a daily deal. i think tomorrow will be the next story. certainly plays into the narrative democrats want to play. no doubt about it. you didn't build that played into the public, regard to the

president -- job creation, correct. it is -- >> jamal, timing though, timing matters. >> absolutely. the thing about spin is it has to be base old something true or it won't last. the -- >> interesting way to defend spin. >> short shelf life. so the problem for romney, just another point, the problem for romney, he didn't tell the truth, be open about his personal taxes. he was asked the question on the sunday shows about what tax loopholes woe close, he didn't tell us about that but he goes in front of private donors and tells them all sorts of things he doesn't tell the general public. that's what hurts him. >> i will let this discussion continue. hang on the trivia this one comes out of -- comes to us, ready for this from 8-year-old frank murphy, he asked which

president popular rised the phrase okay. martin van buren, born in kinder hook, new york, he was referred to as old kinder hook. during his campaign, supporters shorten it had to ok, using the slowing in rallies and campaigns around the world. give a political question a polu think should be on the show. we'll be right back. here i thought it was like for number eight, you know, the "seinfeld" thing? o.k.! when you hold up the eight for the van buren boys? we'll be right back. bob...

oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners.

bring back the panel. nia-malika henderson. jamal, there are a lot of people who would say hey, the president is dealing with a foreign policy crisis. shouldn't he be the one having political problems right now, but he's not? >> well, it's a fair point. the problem is, though, mitt romney injected politics into that question last week and now you've got this mitt romney

problem going on. and there's a third part, which is, the president is fundamentally sort of trusted by americans to handle these things. i think if the president had a rough foreign policy history -- >> you said the president had the benefit of the doubts early? >> do we have enough time -- [ everyone talking at once ] >> but he also has a history of being able to manage. >> -- and the middle east is on fire -- >> it's funny, i've heard that. i was one of those -- you know, i think that the campaign -- >> one of those embarrassing moments. >> -- bopled on that. >> and i think mitt romney sort of wobbled, too, in not allowing the white house to i think have more of a focus, because this is a really tricky situation. >> that's the idea, sort of step out of the way. >> so you step out of the way and perhaps let -- >> let everybody -- >> -- stumble and, yeah, yeah -- >> without offering a contrast. >> he got into a situation where he needed talking points for his talking points. >> well, if guys running for president, we're less than two months out, and i think it's appropriate that he give an opinion on a major foreign policy issue. and whether the timing was correct or incorrect, that's another issue, but the fact he

had an opinion and gave it is entirely -- >> let me ask you about the campaign schedule. did you see the stat i showed you? when he does an event, it's always one event a day and it is different than what mitt romney did four years ago. they clearly made an seassessme, three or four may not be as helpful as one a day. do you think he should be getting his john mccain on -- you know, john mccain's response in a crisis always was i'm going to have 100 town halls in five days. >> get out the bus and go there. >> or go back to washington. that wasn't such a great call. >> but there's a meta physics to this. >> governor, should he be on the trail more? >> that's not my pay grade. that's not my decision. i'm a surrogate. i was thinking of the mccain think. >> i think thought was he ramp up once the summer ended and he focus on fund-raising, but -- >> there are a lot of surrogates out there and paul ryan has an aggressive schedule. >> shameless plug time, governor? >> my high school beat down vosto, national power out of new jersey, ended a 46-game win

streak and go greyhounds. >> what sport? >> football. >> ann bartlett, a wonderful editor at "the washington post," she moves a ton of copy, makes us all look great. she's done a fantastic job. >> when you praise your editor it means you've got a tough -- [ everyone talking at once ] sucking up to the boss. very nice. >> very good. >> congressional black caucus this week, doing a panel thursday on technology and the economy and on saturday with young officials, not on the young electeds. not young or elected. >> when you hit 40 it becomes ish. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown"." tomorrow on the show, we'll break down the results of the new "wall street journal" nbc poll. coming up next, chris jansing. bye-bye. the naturally sweet monk fruit, something this delicious could only come from nature. now from the maker of splenda sweeteners, discover nectresse. the only 100% natural, no-calorie sweetener made from the goodness of fruit. the rich, sweet taste of sugar.

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good morning. i'm chris jansing. mitt romney's campaign wants to reset to get back to the economy and focus on jobs. instead, his message is being drowned out by his very own